The FTC and DOJ have come out against Assembly Bil 5596 in New York, which proposes expanding the scope of unauthorized practice of law to include certain real estate practices that are currently provided by non-attorneys. In their joint comment, the two agencies stated that "the proposed legislation's expansion of the definition of the practice of law unnecessarily limits competition between attorneys and non-attorneys." The agencies also warn about consumer harm.

Comments

The FTC and DOJ are rather overstating the status quo in New York in my opinion. New York when I actively practiced there, was much more expansive in its assessment of the scope of the practice of law in relation to abstracts and real estate services than most states. The norm, at least in Buffalo, has been for abstracters to, at least, be supervised by attorneys, contrary to title insurance practices in most states.

I suspect that the General Assembly is pretty much codifying the status quo, and that outsiders have not be fully aware of that status quo until now.